Vladimir Putin signals a deepening of relations between Moscow and Beijing,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin says there is currently no need for a Russian-Chinese military alliance, but notes that it could be forged in the future.

Important points:

• Russia has shared sensitive military technology with China
• Mr Putin said he personally intervened to send Alexei Navalny to Germany
• Mr Navalny, a Kremlin critic, fell ill on a flight in Siberia

Mr Putin spoke via videoconference at the Valdai Discussion Club’s annual meeting on Thursday about deepening Moscow-Beijing relations amid growing tensions in their relations with the United States.

When asked during the conference whether a military union between Moscow and Beijing was possible, Putin replied: “We don’t need it, but in theory it is perfectly possible to imagine it.”

Russia and China have welcomed their “strategic partnership”, but have so far refused any speech about the possibility of a military alliance.

Putin pointed to the war games held by the armed forces of China and Russia as a signal of burgeoning military cooperation between the countries.

Putin also noted that Russia shared sensitive military technology that would have helped greatly increase China’s military potential, but did not provide any details and said the information was sensitive.

“Time will tell how it will play out, but we won’t rule it out,” Putin said.

Putin says he helped Navalny leave Russia for treatment

During Thursday’s conference, Putin said he intervened personally to ensure that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny could receive medical treatment in Germany after the opposition politician’s allies declared he had been poisoned.

The 44-year-old Navalny fell ill on August 20 on a flight in Siberia and was flown to Berlin for treatment.

Blood samples taken from him confirmed the presence of a novichok nerve agent, said the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Mr Navalny, who is recovering in Germany, has accused Mr Putin of being behind his poisoning, a claim that the Kremlin has dismissed as false and offensive.

Mr Putin said he asked the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office to authorize Mr Navalny to leave the country following a call from the opposition politician’s wife.

Mr Putin said that if someone in Russia wanted to poison Mr Navalny, Moscow would not have allowed him to be flown to Berlin for treatment.

Mr Putin and other officials never refer to Mr Navalny by name. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently referred to Mr Navalny as a “Berlin patient”.

The European Union and the UK last week sanctioned Russian officials near Putin as punishment for poisoning Navalny.

Mr Navalny was discharged from hospital last month and is recovering in Germany.

ABC / wires